ADVERTISEMENT World Snooker Championship 2026 Big breaks: BBC Sport and Sunset+Vine are “not messing about” with the 2026 World Snooker Championship production plan By: Heather McLean, Editor • Posted on: 23 Apr, 2026 • 7 minute read ADVERTISEMENT BBC Sport is bringing snooker fans straight to the heart of the action for the 2026 World Snooker Championship, live from the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, UK (18 April to 4 May). With comprehensive coverage across BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Four, plus uninterrupted streaming on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app, audiences will not miss a moment from the first break to the final frame. The production plan for the 2026 World Snooker Championship is comprehensive. All of the iPlayer digital delivery is done in-house at the BBC, but the match TV coverage is provided by Sunset+Vine, supported by technical services provider Cloudbass. Says Phil Bigwood, BBC Sport executive producer for football and snooker: “It’s about that partnership and then how that works together and with World Snooker Tour (WST).” The Winter Garden studio in 2025, for the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, UK No messing about The Snooker World Championship is not a place for revolutionary camera plans, says Grant Philips, Sunset+Vine Scotland’s executive producer, speaking to SVG Europe: “This is a mammoth event. It’s where snooker fans watch the best of it, and I think that’s really kind of our target at Sunset+Vine, obviously working with the BBC and working with Phil [Bigwood] across their priorities, but our ambition for it really is to bring the best in class. It’s not always necessarily about being new; it’s about making sure that we are there to represent what happens on the table on the screen. So as modestly as we dare, we really do take this seriously.” As a statement of that seriousness, the director for the Snooker World Championship is one of the best on the live sports circuit, Jamie Oakford, who is also set to direct the FIFA World Cup Final in the US this summer. Comments Philips: “We’re not messing about here. We’re putting established, experienced people on this event, and there’s plenty of opportunity along the way too for others. Our frontline producers are snooker fans and snooker experts; that’s really the main central point of our production in what we’re trying to achieve. It’s not about gimmicks. It’s just about making sure the viewers get to see the best of the snooker on the screen.” Adds Philips: “We proudly say that the strength of our team is unrivalled and that’s really what we’ve got to try and focus on. It’s less about gimmicks and spending all of our budget on things that don’t get on the telly very much. It’s more about ensuring that we deliver for the audience a high standard production, which is what we’ve managed to do thus far.” Floor cameras ready to capture the action on the tables Softly softly approach As the tournament progresses, Sunset+Vine adds supermotion cameras and we pocket cameras and various other angles to give the viewers more detail, “but none of it’s absolutely brand new to snooker,” says Grant. “We just ramp up the production closer to the end for the finals, much as pretty much every sport does really.” Additionally, Tudor Square just outside the Crucible is becoming the go-to place for fans, and so much like Henman Hill is for Wimbledon, the team has a camera throughout the competition on Tudor Square so that Sunset+Vine can capture the atmosphere both inside and outside the venue. The camera plan is approached carefully from all angles, says Bigwood, partly due to the tight space that the competition is played in. He notes: “It is quite a challenge when we’re in the two tables set up at the Crucible, because space is so, so tight. Once the divide’s down [between the tables], what it is possible to do in that space is limited, but that’s not to say we’re not trying. So as part of the World Snooker meetings [recently], it came up again around additional cameras and different cameras we can try going forward.” However, Bigwood adds that the production has to move carefully in terms of not upsetting viewers and not missing the actual competition by overdoing its approach to cameras. He explains: “There’s a very far reaching worldwide snooker tour, and the BBC is very fortunate to do the biggest three events in the Triple Crown, so I’m very mindful from my side on that balance of do we really want to be throwing the baby out with about bath water and trying all these new camera toys, etc, at the biggest events? Is it possible to trial them elsewhere and see how they do? But then the issue is the BBC has these three plus the Welsh Open from with BBC Wales, so it’s about trying to see where we can properly try all these things out in a sort of similar setup, rather at the big events.” Bigwood continues on the production strategy: “I would say the overall theme, whether that’s the extended live coverage or whatever, is it’s tended to be more of a softly, softly approach. Sunset+Vine came in to replace IMG who’d been covering the snooker for many, many years, and Grant [Philips]and myself had talked about it and said, “well, we’re not talking about a revolution; it’s an evolution”. “So we’re just tweaking the coverage as we go and advancing it year by year, which is what we’re doing in terms of things like the extended live play, some differing names on the coverage, and the wider digital coverage; that’s where we’re seeing the movement,” concludes Bigwood. The pocket cam in action Presenting team The production of the World Championship is stepped up every year in one way or another. This year much of that change is happening on the presentation side, with the unfortunate passing of esteemed BBC Sport snooker presenter and former professional player, John Virgo, early in February this year. Says Bigwood: “We’ve been faced with some challenges [because of] the awful and really sad news about John Virgo, who was one of our main commentators. With him passing away so suddenly, that’s been a real shock to the team that we’ve had to deal with. And there’s been some other changes within the team, as some players that we’ve had working with us have wanted to have different emphasis and prioritise their playing. So it’s a very movable feast on the presentation team.” The 2026 World Championship will see Hazel Irvine, Seema Jaswal, Rishi Persad and Catrin Heledd presenting the TV coverage, with reporting from Shabnam Younus-Jewell and Abigail Davis. Legends of the game Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, John Parrott, Ken Doherty and Dennis Taylor will offer their expert analysis throughout the tournament. Data boost Sunset+Vine is using this event to run a test with WST for new stats. WST has engaged a new information provider so Sunset+Vine is looking at potential on air use during the event beyond what it already does with graphics provider, Moov. Concludes Bigwood: “One thing we’re looking at is around stats and data, and we’re working with World Snooker on that. You look across all sports and that statistical analysis, those deep dive stats, seem to be more and more what the audience are looking for, and snooker is possibly a perfect game for that. So that’s one area we’re definitely trying to advance if we can.” Watch the 2026 World Snooker Championship from BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Four plus uninterrupted streaming on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app from 18 April to 4 May 2026 Sharing News Roundup Around The Industry IBC launches 2026 Innovation Awards By: George Bevir Posted on: 28 Apr, 2026 Around The Industry Hawk-Eye Innovations appoints Ben Crossing as CEO By: Jo Ruddock, Content Editor Posted on: 27 Apr, 2026 Audio Sennheiser Spectera module now available in Bitfocus Companion and Buttons apps By: Jo Ruddock, Content Editor Posted on: 24 Apr, 2026 Live Production Net Insight integrates InSync FrameFormer into Nimbra Edge By: Jo Ruddock, Content Editor Posted on: 24 Apr, 2026 News Roundup Qvest partners with Rise Women in Broadcast across MENA By: Jo Ruddock, Content Editor Posted on: 24 Apr, 2026 Cloud BCE integrates BCNEXXT’s Vipe to power cloud playout in Media-as-a-Service platform By: Jo Ruddock, Content Editor Posted on: 24 Apr, 2026 AI Chyron unveils Prime Translate By: Jo Ruddock, Content Editor Posted on: 24 Apr, 2026 Related Articles Snooker World Championship 2026 Snooker viewing reigns: BBC Sport pushes the Snooker World Championship with more live coverage over more channels in 2026 BBC Sport, the long-term host broadcaster for the Triple Crown,... 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